crowns of glass
by falling winter roses
Summary: once they wore crowns of glass, now hardened and twisted and fiery with anger / bow beneath the two that now rule the kingdom they once pretended to be weak for / tom riddle, hermione granger, and the kingdom that will burn beneath their touch / royalty!AU


**a/n: as soon as i named this i thought of thrones of glass XD but alrighty then, to get started on this weekly! This one, tbh, is basically crap because I didn't have enough time and I rushed through it.**

 **Ah well.**

 **This is an idea I really like, though, I think I will turn this drabblistic little story into maybe a larger story at some point in the future.**

 **Written for the Ilvermorny forum Weekly Set #3**

 **.**

 _ **Prompts:**_

 **[character] Hermione Granger**

 **[character] Thomas "Tom" Riddle**

 **[word] marvelous**

 **[AU] royalty!AU**

 **[word] caustic**

 **Word Count: 881**

 **.**

She was a girl, and he was a boy.

Or was it that simple?

\/

"Greetings, Your Majesty."

A smile. "Call me Hermione, my Lord."

A grin. "Call me Tom. I'm still simply a boy, after all."

A laugh. "And I, still just a girl."

/\

For she was a queen, and he was a prince, and they wore the weight of crowns on their heads.

She was a leader, he about to become one, and they would not be able to escape the cold fate of royalty in their destiny.

\/

"I love you."

"I love you too."  
He hesitated.

"This is forbidden, you know that."

"I know. I love you anyway."

He smiled. "No matter what happens, I'll always love you too."

/\

This was not something they would be able to escape. For he was destined to marry a girl from his own country, and she destined to marry for political gain, not the foolish emotions of _love._

\/

"I have to marry her."

She didn't cry, not like he had expected her to. "I know. It's okay."

She smiled. "At least I'm the one you love. I have to marry him, too."

"I know. But at least you love me."

A kiss, hidden in the shadows of secrets of two who wore crowns but would gladly cast them aside for love.

/\

But they had a secret, a secret they held. It was a forbidden love, a love not supposed to be, for she had her husband which didn't even sleep in the same room as her, instead sleeping with the countless mistresses he had, while she was expected to live a life alone, without love or romance or pleasure.

She refused to fall to this fate.

She wanted, needed, more, more. She was a girl who had dreams that reached far, far into the sky, and her cruel destiny would not mold her dreams into hopelessness.

\/

"Do you love him?"

"Merlin's crown, no!"

She hesitated.

"I want more. I want more than this loveless marriage."

"If only."

/\

He was destined to find someone he loved within the confines of his own country. He would not find someone like that, he knew, for he already had someone like that.

He had _her._

And that was all he needed.

\/

"Do you love her?"

"No! Do you even need to ask?"

She smiled. "I love you."

"That's all I need."

/\

It was a marvelous thing, the love they shared.

A marvelous thing that would soon turn into a mess, an impassioned furious revenge.

\/

She fell into his arms, sobbing. "Tom, I can't… I can't do this anymore. I can't keep on being the demure, perfect queen. I can't keep on being someone lovely and graceful and someone _weak._ I might be one of _them,_ but I'm not like them. I'm not weak."

"I know." He caressed her brown curls, staring into the darkness. "I know."

/\

And soon, it was too much, and they would fall apart, and they would become who they had sworn they would never be.

It was too much, for both of them.

They knew what they must do.

\/

"Did you do it?"

She smiled. "Yes. Poison in his wine."

"And no one suspects the weak, beloved queen, of course."

"Of course they don't. Just a single thing to appreciate out of this moronic regime."

He laughed. "Yep. And before you ask, I did it. A snake hidden in her quarters."

/\

They found the bodies the next morning. Hundreds of miles away from each other, the king of one kingdom and the princess of another were killed in sync by the two lovers out for revenge.

This would be the end of it all.

\/

"Ready, my dear?"

She grinned. "Always."

They went live.

"Soldiers loyal to us and only us are positioned everywhere. Protest, and be destroyed. We are the leaders of this united kingdom now.

"You cannot escape this now."

/\

There were protests, but those were quickly crushed.

They were the rulers now.

Mercy did not exist, anymore.

\/

"Rebels!"

"Kill them," she barked. "Torture them for information, then hang them."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

She smiled.

She liked it this way.

/\

But eventually this life changed them, as it would change any other. They became caustic leaders, dark and searing and _angry._

They were not who they once were.

\/

She laughed at the little thing. "You can't escape us," she hissed. "Tell us your secrets."

They wouldn't budge.

"Would you like your family to be brought before you? Because I can have that arranged immediately."

Without waiting for an answer, she waved her hand, and the guards brought forward the prisoner's family, shackled and chained and filthy.

She wrinkled her nose at them.

"So tell me, what would you like me to know?"

Silence.

"Do it."

One of the guards cracked the whip across the little sister's back, and she screamed, and so did the prisoner.

"Are you convinced?"

"Please," he hissed. "Please."

And then he spilled, and she smiled as each and every one of them were executed.

She felt no mercy for them.

Let them all burn.

 _Mudbloods._

/\

They once wore crowns of glass, crowns now hardened into icy spikes of anger and fury and fire.

They were the leaders, and they were wrapped in flames, and anyone who dared to stand up to them would burn beneath their rule.

They were not glass anymore.


End file.
